Sun Devils reach halfway point in fall camp

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

TEMPE — At the halfway point of their preseason fall camp, Arizona State football already believes it is primed for a more successful season than in 2023.

Just two days after returning from their annual trip to Camp Tontozona and one day after what head coach Kenny Dillingham called the hardest ASU practice in the last two years, the Sun Devils went right back to work on the field.

Even with Tuesday’s practice being lighter in terms of physicality, Dillingham and staff were still impressed by the product put out by their group.

“The defense dominated every period leading up to two-minute, and offense went 95 yards back to back in the two-minute drill. So a really good operation for us,” Dillingham said.

With greater emphasis on the mental aspect of Tuesday’s practice, Defensive Coordinator Brian Ward continued developing his rotations in the secondary.

As has become customary through the first half of fall camp, several of the team’s defensive backs are rotating through the cornerback and safety positions. This includes graduate defensive back Shamari Simmons, who started 12 games at safety in 2023 and is also rotating through the nickelback spot in practice.

“We’re moving [Simmons] around,” Ward said. “He’s a guy that really could play all three (positions) in the back end, and this week, we’re going to work him at the nickel. Next week, we’ll probably move him back to safety. But right now, it’s part of the building depth process, so we’re always able to have that flexibility in the secondary to put the right guys on the field at specific situations.”

In addition to building depth for specific situations in games, Ward says it’s also important to have depth in a longer season with the variety of schemes the Sun Devils may face in their first season in the Big 12 Conference.

Cultivating depth is not only important for the secondary. It’s also a focus for the linebackers, a unit that Dillingham said could be the most important for this year’s team.

The linebackers bring a combination of consistency and veteran experience with starters redshirt senior Caleb McCullough and redshirt sophomore Tate Romney returning. ASU also added three transfers at the position, all with at least three years of experience at the Division I level under their belts.

“Just a lot of experience, a lot of game experience, a lot of maturity in that room, a lot of leadership,” Ward said of the linebackers. “And the best part about it is we got a lot of depth. We’re not hung up on two or three guys. We got five or six, then we have a couple young guys that I think are really coming on, that are going to push those guys at some point to be better. So, competition really fuels performance, and you can see it in that room. They bring it every day.”

In just twelve practices, Ward feels that his defense is much further along than they were at this point in 2023. He also recognizes how much quicker the Sun Devils have been able to improve through the first half of fall camp in comparison to their series of spring practices.

Making these strides early on is crucial for ASU as it gets ready for its first Big 12 season. With Ward preparing his players for a new set of opponents with different tendencies and player personnel, he believes the Sun Devils are already in a good spot with the progress they’ve made in 12 practices.

“If you compare, just in terms of the workload from the spring, whereas we have five weeks to get in 15 practices worth of defense, right now, we’re probably at like seven weeks, even though we’re just right at two weeks of practice, comparatively speaking,” Ward said. “…Now, we literally have, situationally, call-wise, everything that we’re doing pretty much in. Now, it’s just adding wrinkles to it and what we’ll need to use throughout the season, including up our fundamentals and making sure we’re getting better.”